Charging apparatus.



No. 739,198.' PATBNTBD SEPT. 15, 1903.

C.- MERGAD-BR. GHARGING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.6. 1900.

UNITED STATE-s Patented September 15, 1903. n

' PATENT OFFICE.

" CHARGING'APPARATUS.

sPEcIFloA'rIoN forming part of Lettere recent No. 739,198, datedseptember 15, 1,903.

Application led October 6, 1900 l Serial No. 32,233. (No model.)

.To @ZZ whom t may concern: Be it known that I, CAMILLE MEROADER, ofBraddock, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Charging Apparatus, of whichthe following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, inwhichl Figure 1 is a plan view, partially broken away, showing apreferred form of my apparatus. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same,partly in section, showing the receiving-pins in lifted position; andFigs. 3 and Lle are crosssections, on a larger-scale, showing the pinsin lowered and raised positions, respectively.

My invention relates to the charging apparatus employed for feeding aplate or pile of plates to a heating-furnace or other apparazo tus, andmore particularly to skelp-charging apparatus.

The object of the invention is to simplify and improve the apparatusused for this purpose, to arrange the parts so that a pile of plates maybe received upon it and moved into the furnace either as a pile or oneby one, to provide automatic mechanism for elevating certain supports toreceive the pile in one position of the apparatus and to lower 3o thepile upon the machine `in position for charging, and, further, tosimplify and improve the arrangement of .thepushing-bar and itsactuating mechanism.

In the drawings I show the charging-ma- 3 5 chine 2 as mounted on endtrucks 3 3, hav

ing wheels moving on tracks 4, which extend alongside the furnace tobring the apparatus in registry with the charging-o penings,

The body of the machine consists, essen- 4o tially, of two I-beams 5,secured together by suitable cross-beams 6 and also by castings 7 havingvertical holes containing movable pins S. The pins 8 are secured inpairs to crossheads 9, having links 10, connecting them to rock-arms11,secured toa rock-shaft 12, which extends along that portion of themachine adjacent to the furnace, as shown in Fig. 2. An actuating-lever13 is secured to the shaft 12 and is provided with a roller 14, which 5omoves Aupon a suitable guideway extending parallel with the tracks andhaving an inclined cam portion 15, by which thelever is rocked. This camportion is located at one side of the furnace-openings, so that afterits action has lifted the pins 3 into the position shown in Fig. 2 themachine may be brought beneath the depending yokes or hangers 16 of anoverhead crane. The arms or hangers of the crane being lowered betweenthe pairs of pins will deposit the pile of plates or skelp 17 upon thepins. As the machinev is then moved back into registry with one of thefurnace-openings the roller 14, moving down the camway, will lower thepack upon 'the parallel supporting-plates 13 of the machine. Thesesupporting -plates are spaced apart, and between and beneath them atrough is formed by a pair of angle-irons 19, secured in recesses in thecastings 7, with their baseflanges extending toward each other andspaced slightly apart. A track is thus formed for a sprocket-chain 20,which extends over end sprocket-wheels 21, and in the lower part of itspath moves over a guide or track 22, consisting of a channel with itsflanges projecting upwardly and supported by suitable hangers 23. Theshaft 2,4 of the rear sprocket- -wheel is provided with a gear-wheel 25,intermeshing with a reducing-gear 26, driven by an electric motor 27,carried upon a rear extension of the machine.4 The push-rod. 28 ispivoted to a truck 29, having wheels 30, movable on the I-beams 5 of themachine, which form a track therefor. The truck is secured to the chainby meansof the depending bolt connection 31, the forward end of the barbeing supported by a butt-joint at its other end. The bar is arranged toreceive a fork or other pushing device.

The machine may be moved along the tracks by any suitable mechanism, andI show the rear truck as extended and receivingl an electric motor 32,-whose shaft is provided with a worm 33, intermeshing with a'worm- Wheel34 upon the shaft ofone of the sets of wheels.

The machine is provided at one side with laterally-projecting supportsor brackets 35, upon which a pile of plates may be deposited instead ofupon the pins when it is desired to feed the plates one by one.

In operating the machine motor 32 is actuated to move the machine to'one side of the furnace, the roller 14 lifting the receiving- IOO pinsinto the position shown in Fig. 4. The pile is then lowered onto thepins from an overhead crane, as indicated in dotted lines, and as themachine is moved back after the removal of the crane the pins areautomatically lowered, the pile of skelp then resting upon thesupporting-plates 1S. AThe machine being stopped in front of thecharging-openings, the motor 27 is actuated to force forward thepush-bar, which contacts with the rear ends of the plates and pushes thepile into the furnace. If it is desired to feed the skelp plates one byone, the pile is deposited on the lateral brackets 35 and each plate isdrawn sidewise upon the supporting-plates IS and the pusher actuated toforce these plates into the furnace or to a scarIing-machine or otherapparatus, as desired.

The advantages of my invention result from the forming of the machine insuch manner that a pile of plates may be deposited upon the machineready for pushing into the furnace without being moved sidewise by theoperator, and, further, from the use of the vertically-movable pins orsupports, which are automatically projected and retracted during themovements of the table, and also from the location of the pushing truckor car,- riage, which is above the chain, giving easy access and simpleconstruction.

Many changes maybe made in the form and arrangement of the parts withoutdeparting from my invention.

I claiml. A charging-machine comprising a laterallyn1ovable carriagehaving vertically-movable supports arranged to receive a pile of plates,and mechanism for lowering the supports to deposit the pile upon themachine; substantially as described.

2. A laterally-movable charging-machine havin g vertically-movingsupports,and mechanism arranged to automatically lift the supportsduring the sidewise movement of the machine; substantially as described.

3. Aeharging-machine mounted upon suitable trucks,vertically-movablesupports upon the machine arranged to receive the pile of plates, andcam mechanism arranged to automatically raise and lower the supportsduring the movement of the machine; substantially as described.

l. A laterally-movable charging-machine CAMILLE MERCADER.

Witnesses:

H. M. CoRWIN, C. P. BYRNES.

